1) Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a fuse-incorporated, chip-type solid electrolytic capacitor and also to a fabrication process thereof, and especially to a connection structure for an cathode-side fuse and to its fabrication process.
2) Description of the Related Art
As is shown in FIG. 2, a conventional chip-type solid electrolytic capacitor is fabricated by applying an insulating layer 26 on the entire outer peripheral surface of a capacitor element (which has been formed in a manner known per se in the art) except for a surface with an anode lead 22 implanted therein and another surface opposite to the anode-lead-implanted surface, and then forming an anode terminal and a cathode terminal on the anode-lead-implanted surface and the opposite surface, respectively. The anode terminal and cathode terminal are composed of conductor layers 27,28, plating layers 29,30 and solder layers 31,32. Such a technique is disclosed, for example, in Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 14673/1987.
The conventional chip-type solid electrolytic capacitor described above can be fabricated in smaller dimensions than previous chip-type solid electrolytic capacitors. It, however, does not have a fuse due to its reduced size. This has led to the potential risk that, if the capacitor should fail and form a short circuit, the capacitor may burn out and, as a consequence, may cause an associated circuit to burn out partly or entirely.